Mining boom causing housing crisis in WA

The mining boom has brought untold riches to Western Australia, but there is also a dark side.

With the rising cost of living, social welfare groups say low-income earners are struggling to find affordable housing, and many are facing homelessness.

Lusia Santinow and her family fled war-torn Sudan for Australia nine years ago.

Now the 21-year-old mother of two faces another battle: the struggle to find an affordable place to rent in Perth.

Ms Santinow and her toddler twins live with seven other people in her parents' house in suburban Perth.

Despite being employed as a carer in a nursing home, she cannot find an affordable place to rent.

"I share a room with my sister and the twins. So I sleep on the floor and the twins share a bed with my little sister," she said.

There is no room in her parents' house, so her partner lives nearby.

"He is not happy where he is because he misses his children and being around them," she said.

"I don't understand why we can't get a place when both of us work and we get a good amount of money, plus I get a Centrelink payment.

I don't understand why we can't get a place when both of us work and we get a good amount of money.

Lusia Santinow

"I'm not sure what else I should do."

'Out of reach'

It's a common story in Western Australia as the mining boom prices middle and low income people out of the housing market.

The resource riches have made WA the strongest economy in the country, with more than 1,000 migrants flocking to the state each week.

But the state is not building enough homes to house its rapidly expanding population.

Social welfare groups say that is creating a housing crisis, and homelessness is on the rise as low-income people struggle to find a place to rent.

Mandy Whitton, from the Housing Crisis Committee, runs a social welfare centre at Koondoola Primary School in Perth.

"Families who can't get somewhere to rent sleep in the car," she said.

"We had one family, a mum and dad, and four little ones, sleeping in a car outside the school.

"We have families sleeping in the park and more and more we have families who are split up.

"So mum and a little one will go to one family member, other kids and the dad will go to a friend."

The median weekly rent in Perth is nearly $500 a week. That's too much for a low-paid worker to afford.

The housing market is even worse in mining boom towns like Port Hedland, where the median weekly rent for a house is $2,000.

Families who can't get somewhere to rent sleep in the car.

Mandy Whitton

Western Australian Council of Social Service chief executive Irina Cattalini says renting your own place is becoming a dream for many people.

"For those in the services and manufacturing industry and some of the lower paid and minimum wage workers, and obviously those who are not working and are unemployed, they are really finding that housing is out of reach," she said.

"We are seeing homeless rates start to increase and essentially the demand for financial assistance.

"People are using so much of their income to keep a roof over their head they don't have enough to balance the rest of their household bills."

The Western Australian Government acknowledges the housing shortage.

It has built nearly 8000 homes as part of its plan to build 20,000 homes under its affordable housing strategy by 2020.

But Ms Whitton says more needs to be done by both the state and federal governments, including more release of land.

"The solution is for more housing schemes to be brought in, such as the Keystart scheme, to change the rules whereby the whole of the household income is taken into account not just the signatories on the lease," she said.

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